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October 25, 2016 - Image 12

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The Michigan Daily

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Tuesday, October 25, 2016

FACEOFF 2016
4B
De Jong becomes comfortable in new role

For those who grow up in

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada,
hockey is nearly a birthright. So
almost since he was born, Nolan
De Jong has been itching to start
playing the sport.

His father, Kevin De Jong, played

in a men’s league, and Nolan would
go to his games with his mother and
brother to watch.

“His deal with me was that if I

was potty-trained, if I could use a
toilet, then he would teach me how
to skate,” De Jong said. “That was
his deal with me, because I wanted
to play hockey so bad, because I saw
him playing and watched it on TV
and everything.”

From there, De Jong never looked

back. He played in a minor league in
his hometown and began improving
his craft. And it didn’t take long for
De Jong to realize that he might
have a future in hockey.

Years later, De Jong is living that

future in Ann Arbor.

Before every game, the Michigan

hockey
team
crowds
around

the goal. Players drape over the
back of the net, and the starting
goalie crouches in the crease. The
Children of Yost give another round
of the “Let’s Go Blue” chant to the
tune of the pep band, and the rest of
the fans get louder in anticipation
for puck drop. But among all the
commotion, the players are silent.
All the players, that is, except one:
De Jong.

De Jong gives the final pep talk

before the puck drops, visibly
bobbing
his
head,
giving
his

teammates
encouraging
words

before they take the ice against
their opponents.

In some ways, this position seems

an obvious endpoint for the boy
who started skating at that Victoria
rink at age 2. In reality, it’s not that
simple.

***

De Jong has always felt the

passion that he now exhibits as
a captain of the Wolverines. And
when he was a child, that passion
paired with physical ability to start
him on the right track.

“I always knew I was one of the

better, more competitive guys from
pretty much when I was 6 or 7,” De
Jong said. “Me and my best friend
(American International College
forward Shawn McBride), we would
just kind of get the puck and we
could skate through everyone at a
pretty young age.

McBride further attested to De

Jong’s hard work: “He was tons of
fun to hang out with and be around,
but then when it came time to work
hard, he was the hardest-working
guy. That’s a lot like he is today, and

that’s how he was back then.”

De Jong’s hard work translated

to early notice from colleges. Before
he had even played his first game
in junior hockey, De Jong received
his first offer from Cornell. And
from a school with such academic
and hockey prestige, that offer was
enough for De Jong. He committed
to play for the Big Red, and
Michigan moved its focus to other
recruits.

Michigan knew about De Jong

in those days. In fact, Wolverines

assistant coach Brian Wiseman
went to his British Columbia to take
a look at him. But when Wiseman
arrived, he soon found out about De
Jong’s commitment to Cornell, and
Michigan went home packing.

The pursuit wasn’t over, though.

Once De Jong and his family took
a deeper look into the financial
prospects at an Ivy League school,
they reconsidered their options.

“Cornell doesn’t do scholarships

because they’re Ivy League,” Kevin
De Jong said. “And when it came
down to that, we were looking at
either paying a bunch of money for
him to go there, or he said, ‘There’s
probably other opportunities,’ and
Michigan was at the top of the list.”

When the Wolverines caught

wind of De Jong’s decommitment,
they pounced.

“It was about a year later that

we had heard he decommitted with
Cornell,” Berenson said. “So then
he was available. And we knew
enough about him to go ahead and
recruit him.”

***

For
De
Jong,
the
move
to

Michigan wasn’t easy. He had spent
his entire life in Victoria, even
playing juniors for the hometown
Victoria Grizzlies of the British
Columbia Hockey League. So when
he came to Ann Arbor, it was the

first time De Jong had to spend an
extended period of time away from
home.

“In
hindsight,
it’s
a
funny

situation,” De Jong said. “(My
parents) basically packed me up and
put my life in a few suitcases and a
hockey bag and said, ‘There you
go.’ You kind of get thrown into it a
little bit, but I’m glad it worked out
that way.”

But De Jong wasn’t necessarily

alone. He came to Ann Arbor as
a part of a vaunted recruiting
class that included 11 players. The
shining stars in the class were

JT Compher and Tyler Motte.
They were fresh off a stint with
the United States National Team
Development Program, a team that
is made up every year of the most
talented players in the country.
Even
Michael
Downing
was

considered a superior defenseman
to De Jong entering college. So it
wasn’t expected that De Jong would

MIKE PERSAK
Daily Sports Writer

Once committed to Cornell, defenseman has become a leader and a captain as one of the last seniors left at Michigan

“When it came

time to work hard,
he was the hardest-

working guy.”

“If I could use
a toilet, then he
would teach me
how to skate.”

ZOEY HOLMSTROM/Daily

Senior defender Nolan De Jong earned a spot as one of Michigan’s co-captains along with Alex Kile going into the 2016-17 season.

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

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